1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to optical discs, optical disc drives and optical disc interrogation methods and, in particular, to methods and apparatus for blood separation. More specifically, but without restriction to the particular embodiments hereinafter described in accordance with the best mode of practice, this invention relates to optical discs including a lateral flow circuit having a blood separation membrane for immunohematologic analysis.
2. Description of the Related Technology
The Optical Bio-Disc, also referred to as Bio-Compact Disc (BCD), bio-optical disc, optical analysis disc or compact bio-disc, is known in the art for performing various types of bio-chemical analyses. In particular, this optical disc utilizes the laser source of an optical storage device to detect biochemical reactions on or near the operating surface of the disc itself. These reactions may be occurring in membranes on the disc, small channels inside the disc (frequently with one or more dimensions of less than 300 microns), or the reactions may be occurring on the open surface of the disc. Whatever the system, multiple reaction sites are usually needed either to simultaneously detect different reactions, or to repeat the same reaction for error detection purposes.